I'm
still a history buff to this day, and I'm enclosing a couple of pictures of what
my friends call the "war room" in my attic. I have all Life Magazines
from September 1939 until the end of the war. My mother saved some after I enlisted
in the Air Corps. I also have many aviation magazines from that time as well as
from our newspapers all during the war years.

I signed up for aerial gunnery, but
when the war ended I was sent to Japan in the occupation. I got there
in early October, 1945. An exciting time for
a 18 year old kid right out of high school, and one who was a WWII history
buff and loved planes.

Occupation of Japan
During the occupation part of my job was, part of my job being to disarm
the hundreds of planes left by the Japs. My job was to disarm the Jap
planes and help dispose of them. I was stationed at Irumagawa and Tackikawa air bases outside of Tokyo and later Kamake airbase at Nagoya.

Mystery
B-29 and Tail Gunner "BIRD"During
one weekend trip with George Mullins, in the countryside of Nagoya, we stopped
in a small village about seven miles from Nagoya. We found a crashed B-29 there
with all the guns still aboard and some locals advised that some of the crew bailed
out.

The tail turret had the name "BIRD"
on it and the escape hatch was gone, and not around the crash site. I have often
wondered if he got out. He hopes that someone, possibly the survivor might see
this, and contact him.

Since then, I
Have learned that 3,600 B-29 crewmen went down and about 250 of that ditched and
were saved and only 200 that were captured came back alive. On August 15,1945
the Osaka Kempe Tai shot 55 crewmen on the parade field.

Ki 67 "Peggy"
WreckI have the turn and bank indicators and
was working on the control column before I ran out of time. Got
some great pictures of the Jap planes before they were bulldozed. This Ki-67 "Peggy" almost made it to the runway before being shot down.

Fake
Superfortress
The fake B-29 I saw at Irumagwa
Air Base when I first got there in 1945. You would not believe the detail, complete
with American insignia. From the air, it looked like fire coming out of one engine
to act as a decoy to pull American planes down [to strafe it].

From
the book "Expedition to other Airbases""The
mock up was created as a training aid. Near the end of the war suicide teams were
being trained as to how best to place destructive charges in B-29s following a
massive one way night air assault on the airfields of Guam and Tinian. Their plan
was to destroy as many B-29's on the ground as possible before being apprehended."

Today, Mr. Myers is part of the Mayor's
Veterans Committee in Virginia Beach that built a beautiful memorial dedicated
to all veterans.Bill Myers